Library Policies

General use of the Library is open to any person with special consideration to residents of Morning Sun, Iowa, and then Louisa County. Library cards will be issued to residents of Morning Sun and the surrounding county unincorporated areas roughly matching the Morning Sun School Board District. The following information is required when filling out a library card: name, address, phone number, sex, birthdate for persons under the age of majority, driver's license number,children's names, and parent's signature if applicant is under fourteen. There are no fees to obtain a library card; however, fees will be set by the Board of Trustees for overdue fines and for special use materials. Library privileges may be revoked by the Library Director and/or the Board if payment is not made in a timely manner and, if so deemed, the patron shall be dropped from the rolls and thereupon forfeit all rights and privileges at the Library.

Check out times

The following check out times apply to Library materials:

Books, Audio cassettes and

Audio CDs - three weeks

Magazines - one week

VHS/DVDs - two days

No more than 3 VHS/DVDs may be checked out by any one patron at a time.

Library card will be suspended after sixty (60) days of the first notice of overdue materials. During that sixty days, contact will be made by phone and by letter, if necessary, alerting the patron that materials are overdue. The patron will be able to use the library in-house while the card is suspended, but no materials may leave the library until the overdue materials have been returned/replaced and the fine paid in full, either by money or in service to the Library. Once the situation has been rectified, the patron will be allowed to re-establish the borrower relationship by borrowing a limited number of items until responsibility has been shown.

Unattended Children

To provide for the general welfare of all persons using the Mellinger Memorial Library and to provide for the general safety of children using the Library, the Board has established the following:

1. Children five and younger must be accompanied by an adult at all times. This means that s/he remains with the child during the entire library visit.

2. Library staff members are not responsible for children in any area of the Library at any time.

3. A written copy of the policy will be given to individuals who do not observe this policy as a reinforcement of the importance of following the rules for their own child's safety.

Confidentiality Policy

It is the policy of the Mellinger Memorial Public Library not to release information that would reveal the identity of a library patron who checked out or used certain materials or services or requested an item of information from the library. Information concerning the account of a patron will be released to that person only. However, the library will release information to the parent or guardian of a minor child for the purposes of recovering overdue material and settling accounts for late, lost, or damaged material, and for other matters related to the recovery of material or charges incurred by minor children for which a parent or guardian may be considered liable. Information will not be provided to parents or guardians who are merely attempting to determine what library materials their minor children are using.

Requests for release of confidential patron records will be honored if submitted in writing and accompanied by an order from the court as outlined in Chapter 22.7 of the Iowa Code.

Parents should be aware that as provided in Section 22.7 (13) of the Code of Iowa, they cannot have access to records of what their child checks out. This Code states that libraries may not reveal to another party any titles checked out by an individual. This law includes materials borrowed by children and requests by parents for information. All borrowers, including children, may request this information from their own borrowing records. Parents of young children may wish to check out materials for their child on a parent's card to facilitate access to this information.

Patrons can receive information about their account at the Mellinger Memorial Public Library by phone. This includes information on overdue items, fines, and titles of checked-out items. Your library card number is required when calling as no information on a patron's record will be released without that number.